Gaming PC has a more powerful CPU and graphics card than a regular PC. So it requires more electricity, resulting in higher energy consumption. It’s usually because computer games are extremely demanding of hardware resources. The games may crash or freeze if the PC does not allocate these resources.
Knowing a gaming PC’s power consumption helps you adapt methods to reduce electricity costs. Fortunately, we wrote a comprehensive guide about how much electricity does a gaming pc use and the ways to save power without giving up another shot at Battlefield V or stopping practice for an upcoming gaming tournament.
What Is the Average Electricity a Gaming PC Use?
Are you wondering how much electricity does a gaming pc use? The average electricity consumption of a gaming PC mostly depends on usage. The more you play, the higher will be your monthly electricity bill.
While building a gaming PC, you aren’t usually wary of its electricity cost. However, when you get a surprise on your monthly electric bill, you wonder what could be the cause.
A gaming PC requires average electricity of 400 Watts which equals almost 1,400 kWh per year. You can power up to three refrigerators, six conventional PCs, or ten gaming consoles with that amount of energy used by a gaming PC.
So, with 400 Watts average electricity consumption, 13 cents average cost per kWh in the US, and 12 hours daily usage, your average electricity cost per month would be $18.993 per month. If you play VR games, the gaming PC will consume 600 Watts or more, thus, adding up another $10 in the monthly electric bill.
Saving Electricity on a Gaming PC
Saving electricity consumption on a gaming PC is a mix and match of different approaches. We will take you through the process of cutting electricity costs without wasting your valuable time.
We’ll also discuss calculating gaming PC’s power consumption so that you can have a complete solution in hand. Without any delay, here are the six methods of saving electricity on a gaming PC.
Method #1: Enable Power-Saving and Lower Resolution
To save electricity consumption, you can use Windows Power-saving mode in Settings > System > Battery to adjust or reduce the gaming PC’s performance and put the PC into sleep mode earlier.
Also, you can choose a resolution that does not affect your gameplay but saves power. For example, a 4k display resolution consumes 60% more power than a 1080p resolution. So, when FPS drops, you can see a significant reduction in the Watt metric.
Method #2: Do Periodic Maintenance
Your gaming PC overheats when the dust settles on the heatsink. Thus, the PC consumes more energy by forcing the fan to run harder and longer.
To clean the dust, do the following:
- Shut down and unplug your gaming PC from the main wall.
- Unplug all the accessories and move the PC to a ventilated area.
- Remove the front panels and the case’s sides and use a lint-free cloth or a can of compressed air to clean the dust around the base of the case, CPU, GPU cooler, and from the filters.
- Finally, reattach the front panels and close the PC’s case.
To avoid static charge and damage to PC parts, DO NOT use a Vacuum Cleaner directly on the interior of the PC case.
Method #3: Use Energy-Efficient Parts
You can upgrade to more efficient gaming PC parts to save some money on your monthly electrical bill. For example, you may have a Nvidea GeForce RTX 2070 Super consuming 220 Watts. So try replacing it with Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti that uses only 120 Watts.
Method #4: Use SSD Storage
A traditional HHD storage is a superb option for storing vast chunks of data. However, it draws an average of 10 Watts. On the other hand, SSD is faster and consumes five times less energy than an HDD, drawing as little as 2.7 Watts.
Method #5: Exit Background Programs
While playing, your PC is already trying hard to make the hardware resources available on demand. On top of that, active background programs add to the mix and draw even more power.
You can use Windows Task Manager to exit all the background programs, especially those using a lot of energy.
Method #6: Disconnect External Devices
Every external standby device attached to your gaming PC, although not running, still uses up power even. So if you are not using an external device such as a printer, speaker, or a hard drive, it’s best to disconnect them while playing a graphically demanding game.
Calculating Electricity Consumption
To calculate your gaming PC electrical consumption, you need basic information on all the PC components that demand more energy, including CPU and GPU. The best way to get this information is by using a Power Meter. To use the Power meter, plug it in a wall outlet and plug the PC power cable into the meter.
Now you can determine how much electricity your gaming PC consumes when running a game or in an idle state. Next, enter the Power meter electrical consumption information into an online calculator and see how much electric bill you can expect monthly or yearly.
Summary
In this guide about how much electricity a gaming PC uses, we have discussed the PC’s average power consumption and its monthly electricity cost without getting all techy on you. We also guided you with different methods to make your PC more energy-efficient.
Hopefully, your questions about gaming PC power usage have been answered, and now you can calculate your gaming PC’s electricity usage as well.
Keep playing, keep winning!
Frequently Asked Questions
If you are running your gaming PC 24/7, based on the average US price of 13 cents per kWh and average consumption of 400 Watts, the cost to power it for a year is $455.832.
TDP stands for Thermal Design Power that tells you the maximum heat a PC chip uses in Watts, such as GPU or CPU. However, TDP readings are often inaccurate. So, this is not considered a better option than a Power meter and an online calculator.
